The Broken Hardys are gone, Karen Jarrett’s at the helm, DCC is done/finito, ‘Cowboy’ James Storm face turn, “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan and Magnus are back, LAX is back, Konnan (who’s been amazing on the mic) you name it. Even this man is back:

Is Impact Turning its Nose on 2016?

Is the point to all of this just to bring old fans back into the fold or subliminally saying 2016 is best left not spoken of? DCC was getting tremendously over during the Broken Hardys feud and the whole rivalry ended a bit too quick. DCC’s leader James Storm was a made man in the industry about to embark to greater heights with a classically formed stable. The spotlight was shining just as much on Bram and Kingston.

You saw fans in the crowds wearing the masks, it could easily have been TNA’s answer to the Wyatt Family. The gimmick was fresh and cool. Think about how much character development and potential, straight up money was left on the table. Now don’t it wrong, Kingston’s promo on ‘Cowboy’ James Storm last Impact was tremendous, and drove a stake in you could feel with every word. Storm was in his element as always with the comebacks.

Long Term Gimmick Damage to the DCC

Long term damage was dealt though. It did unquestionably trash the whole gimmick, in a way that would be pretty hard to bring back. Even Kingston referencing ‘turning that hillbilly music off’, while having Bram come out to the same music later in the show (As a member of Matthew’s team). Direct burial. It’s a memorable, excellent theme song to go along with a catchy gimmick. It kind of cemented the end of DCC for good.

TNA’s New Hats

If you’ve been watching Impact you might have noticed the recognizable red caps only with the words ‘Make Impact Great Again’. Sure, good for parody laughs although way late. However, again this kind of branding is again driving home the idea that Impact as a product has been below average recently.

Even if the ones in charge of marketing or executives in the back secretly believe it hypothetically, they should not be commenting on it themselves. WWE has a storied history of promoting every event they run like gold, down year or not, good or average card.

Allie and Braxton’s mega babyface reactions have lessened a bit because their chief rivals are gone without an explanation (at least one outside of internet wrestling dirt sheets). They’re trying blatantly to transfer all the heat over to Sienna and KM’s feud with Karen Jarrett without reference to Ms. Maria. Time will tell if this move proves successful.

Without numbers Laurel Van Ness has shifted to more of a side role, a mere distraction to Allie and Braxton instead of the ultimate thorn. They say ‘hell have no fury like a woman’s scorn’, that should be Van Ness. Acting crazier by the episode, lashing out at everyone. Out for revenge Carrie style.

Laurel Van Ness should be getting prime time mic time every episode, especially a week after the wedding incident.

Decay in Limbo

Is Decay still one of the hottest tickets on Impact Wrestling? Yes. However, losing the Broken Hardys and Jade meant their biggest rivals were gone.

Outside of Rosemary, Decay appear to be caught in a bit of limbo since the Impact reboot started. They should have gotten to keep the Tag belts when the Hardys left. Just keep them together, at this rate, it almost seems like Impact would consider letting Abyss leave Decay to go back to classic Abyss (‘Cowboy’ James Storm) like. Abyss was over then, now and will be in the future either way.

However, these kind of stables elevate all the talent into immense heights. Simply put, fans love stable groups, they’re entertaining to watch, a sports team like atmosphere in wrestling. 2016 needs to not be forgotten from an Impact perspective because it was a time of desperation.

Rather it allowed talents to try new and exciting things, venture out to new storylines and develop unique characters they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. In other words it created new stars, and made current ones even better. Just like Hogan reinvented himself as a heel in the n.W.o so too, should 2016 storylines continue.